Friday, May 20, 2016

This is such a good article about early retirement it's worth revisiting every now and again to get a reminder of the need to keep busy and mentally/socially/physically engaged once you leave the work force.

While everyone is different, for many (including me), planning a degree of structure into my days is a must. Goals matter in part because I didn't retire from my job - I retired to a different lifestyle and to priorities that were different from earning money. I didn't retirees I could sit on my butt watching TV and eating junk food all day.

Monday, May 02, 2016

April saw a modest appreciation in net assets with small gains across all relevant asset classes - enough to tip the portfolio back into positive territory for the year to date.

Here are the details:

1. my Hong Kong/China equity portfolio appreciated slightly;

2. my AU/NZ equities appreciated;

3.my equity ETFs rose slightly (India, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China) in line with the local markets;

4. my position in silver appreciated;

5. all tenants are paying on time. We are back to full occupancy with one tenant agreeing to a small increase in rent for a new lease. One building will be subject to a lengthy renovation exercise. My tenant has agreed to tough it out in exchange for a significant discount on the rent (which is better than a lengthy vacancy);

6. the NZD and the AUD were flat against the HKD/USD;

7. my position in bonds remains small but I have subscribed for some corporate bonds which will appear in the portfolio next month;

8. expenses were high with the cost of a long weekend for the family in Bangkok and the acceptance fee for another degree programme being paid;9.there were no transfers to Mrs Traineeinvestor.

My cash position fell slightly due to the higher expenses. I currently hold 34.5 months of expenses in HKD cash or equivalents.For the month the portfolio rose 0.62 percent and the year to date increase in 0.21 percent.